MDR Trium’s videos are now being posted at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ZBNd12ewr4KT74VKG06kA or http://bit.ly/CmdrTriumVFL if you’re looking for the short address. This may change once more to a shortened YouTube URL if there’s enough traffic to qualify for a custom URL. As for the VFL content pertaining to CMDR Trium, this new address will serve as a new permanent location so the old /apprefactory URL can be used for commercial purposes (although for the time being the @apprefactory Twitter account will still serve to provide related notices pertaining to CMDR Trium).

erlin has just been discovered! (For those of you who are familiar with the Elite universe….Ross 128 is the system which is host to the Merlin colony, an earth-like world which actually is a moon of the gas giant Aster in the game.) The similarity of Merlin and this discovery might be astonishing! I certainly hope the folks at Frontier are paying attention to this news item.

Artist’s conception of what the exoplanet Ross 128b might look like on the surface. (Source: CNN.com)

n interesting take on the Star Trek (Old Series) episode “Mirror, Mirror”. It looked like a poor recreation of the original episode at first, but then took a 1960’s-style approach to continuing the story that proved interesting. Not sure, but it’s also possible the son or grandson of James Doohan (who played Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott in the original episode) starred as “Scotty” herein.

he Thargoid invasion is proceeding nicely — if you’re a Thargoid (or perhaps Prime Minister Ed Mahon). Unfortunately, the bulk of humanity is governed by the Federation and the Empire; leaving humanity largely vulnerable to retaliation for the rumored attempted genocide of the Thargoid species. And now, Thargoid encroachment is moving dangerously close to human-held space. Indeed, non-human attacks have (as of recently) now struck as close to Earth as 70ly! And we’re not seeing much apparent attention to this emerging crisis from either of the parties who, almost certainly, caused it in the first place. Where is the mighty Empire? Where are the fearless soldiers of the Federation?

Starships Wanted

Thargoid logo (proposed)

One solution that the pair of superpowers could offer are new classes of warships that would allow CMDRs to dock and allow the Empire and Federation both to project their might into areas hosting Thargoid activity — like near key installations, such as starports. Allowing CMDRs to “park” their craft on a carrier class vessel would allow them to always organize and counter-attack in regions affected by Thargoids. On top of which sooner or later this war will only be won by taking the fight into the territory of the enemy. If that means using intergalactic hyperdrive technology, such an investment in larger capital ships may become necessary. That is….if the Thargoid threat is ever to be pacified once and for all.

Pirates Using Thargoid Tech?

Are pirates using Thargoid tech to disrupt operations and some starports? The possibility was raised this past week when one CMDR (name unavailable at present) proposed the notion that stolen Thargoid tech adapted for long-range energy disruption was actually responsible for all of the various starports reporting power problems. Some groups (like the Ant Hill Mob) have taken to piracy and terrorism, leveraging the Thargoid threat as an opportunity to further the objectives of one small group at the expense of humanity! If this proves true, I personally believe it should become a new objective to target these groups for decimation once the Thargoid threat has been resolved. Such groups are demonstrating they are enemies of humanity as a whole, after all, through such self-serving acts!

On the other hand, it is entirely possible the Thargoids themselves are responsible for this disruption. And in either case, the Empire and the Federation need to act together now. The nearest point where this remote disruption activity is occurring is in the Maridal system, just 70ly from Earth!

Or so I thought. Suddenly, we were talking about VR gaming and the collective disappointment with how long new features were taking to be rolled into the Elite: Dangerous universe. As a software developer myself, I’m acutely familiar with how it’s produced. Prior experience with the world’s largest software production company, Microsoft, has helped that education and acquaint me with the most modern practices involved with the full software development lifecycle. I thought I’d bring this view to a pair of gaming consumers; one from New York and another a fellow Canadian who lives relatively close, geographically (which is not a given in the world’s second-largest country). CMDR IronJaguar, in particular, laid the heaviest expectations on Frontier (the producer of the Elite game series). Could he be convinced to be more understanding of the issues involved in producing Elite: Dangerous? And what about Frontier’s competitors? Where is Star Citizen? What about EndSpace and From Other Suns? Could they pose a threat to Elite’s dominance in the VR flight sim market at some point?

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I think we’ve established there is a bit of a stereotype for men here... but there’s gonna be a stereo type for the other side too (women) cause that’s just how it works. Just because there’s a gender in the name, doesn’t mean other genders aren’t welcome, which is the case here.

Well you are welcome to fly with us if you want to be a part of the squadron - actually winging up with other players is not mandatory, you can still stick to solo but be part of our group if you like :) - o7

Well Chaps it's been a while but we're back. Running like the Thargoids are chasing us to catch back up with #DW2 tonight from 8pm UTC in @EliteDangerous over @Twitch http://twitch.tv/smiter1983 #TeamXebon

It doesn't bother (me, in fact). That was just to say. I won't ever create a "women" group. Cause diversity is interesting. And if Fathers have to wait for their children's sleep, I think that's because they care. So I don't throw the stone. 1/2